Katie Couric: Matt Lauer's 'Button' Not What It Seemed

Couric says others have the same button, 'It's an executive perk'
By Janet Cromley,  Newser Staff
Posted May 2, 2018 1:29 PM CDT

That infamous privacy button that Matt Lauer had under his desk was an “executive perk” rather than a “nefarious thing” used to trap women in his office, Katie Couric told Wendy Williams on Williams' show Tuesday. “A lot of NBC executives have those buttons that open and close doors. It was really just a privacy thing,” Couric said, per Page Six. "A lot of stuff gets misreported and blown out of proportion." Lauer's former longtime colleague is struggling to reconcile her own experiences with the disgraced NBC host and what others have said about him.

Couric said that Lauer always treated her "respectfully and appropriately," but added that it would likely be "challenging" for Lauer to experience a comeback. “I think it depends on ... how he decides to handle what has happened. And the full extent of what has happened, I don’t think has been truly revealed," she added. Later Tuesday, she went on Bravo's Watch What Happens Live and cleared up another misunderstanding related to Lauer. For the record, she was joking when she told the show in 2012 that Lauer "pinches me on the ass a lot." "I was joking! It was a total joke," she told host Andy Cohen. (More Matt Lauer stories.)

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